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Ontario housing minister explains inclusionary zoning rationale

“The draft version of inclusionary zoning I have proposed will not be the final version,” writes Peter Milczyn. “I have heard a lot of good ideas from the public and from housing advocates.”

"Inclusionary zoning requires developers to set aside a certain number of units in each new development for affordable housing," writes Peter Milczyn. "But the goal for inclusionary zoning is to increase the overall supply of housing, not just to carve up the existing housing pie." (Frank Gunn / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

By Peter MilczynOpinion

Tues., Jan. 30, 2018

As Ontario’s Minister of Housing, my priority is creating the conditions where everyone can have an affordable place to live. When I was appointed, it was with the understanding that I would have to challenge traditional thinking and develop new tools to create better, more affordable communities.

Housing prices have grown in recent years in Ontario. Here in Toronto, there is a housing shortage. It’s tough out there for too many people to find a decent place to live. This is both a social and an economic problem.

I’ll be frank: what governments have tried until now is not working. I want to find the right tools to help foster livable, affordable, mixed-income cities.

One way to do that is with inclusionary zoning, which I have proposed for Ontario. I opened up consultations in December and we have had an enthusiastic response so far. Some people think our proposal does not go far enough, and I hear their concerns.

Inclusionary zoning is a new tool in Canada. We need to get it right. It will help create more affordable housing, but it is not a panacea. It must be used alongside tools like rent control, portable housing benefits and an increased minimum wage.

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Inclusionary zoning requires developers to set aside a certain number of units in each new development for affordable housing. But the goal for inclusionary zoning is to increase the overall supply of housing, not just to carve up the existing housing pie. This leads to greater affordability for all.

The draft version of inclusionary zoning I have proposed will not be the final version. I have heard a lot of good ideas from the public and from housing advocates. That’s why consultation is important to me. That said, I want to dispel some myths about my proposal.

The biggest myth of all is that inclusionary zoning would impose big costs on municipalities. The draft regulations offer municipalities the option to implement inclusionary zoning at no cost if they use community planning permits.

Any municipality that uses community planning permits (CPP) in conjunction with inclusionary zoning would not have any costs imposed on them to create affordable units. Those costs would be covered entirely by developers. That is because properties would have already been pre-zoned appropriately, community benefits would have been accommodated and a streamlined approval system would have been put in place. Proper density, full-cost accounting and quick approvals will be a significant incentive to developers.

Pre-zoning gives more transparency to residents about the type of growth their neighbourhood will experience while relieving councillors of the burden of personally negotiating community benefits with developers. Residents get a say in how their community will grow.

My experience as a city councillor for 17 years was that too often in our cities, development is treated like a game of “let’s make a deal” between developers and councillors. Cities, instead, should be pre-zoning rather than making a series of one-off deals. Pre-zoning is better for all communities.

Furthermore, with pre-zoning, there would be no requirement for a municipality to waive any fees or offer further incentives because they would be built into the plan which was built by the community.

While many jurisdictions allow developers to give cash in lieu of creating affordable housing units, our version explicitly bans this practice and insists that affordable units be created in all cases.

Municipalities are empowered to shape how inclusionary units are used to help people with low-incomes get into a home — whether they are rented directly, transferred to a non-profit to rent, or sold as affordable homes. With the boom in condominium construction, applying this tool to condos can create thousands of affordable units.

Not enough rental units are getting built in the first place, and that’s a big problem. We continue to look at other tools to promote the construction of rentals that are affordable. This includes the $125 million we recently announced to waive development charges to create purpose-built rental, and the leveraging of surplus provincial land for affordable housing.

Housing advocates have told me our proposal does not require enough affordable housing units to be created within each development. We need to strike a balance between creating affordable housing and not disincentivizing developers to build. We also cannot squeeze out middle income households in the process. But I hear this concern and take it very seriously. I will be looking at it closely.

There is no question that having a stable, affordable places to call home opens up possibilities for better education, health and work outcomes.

That’s why I want an inclusionary zoning program that gets this balance right — so more people can realize that dream.

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